Quinton Lucas tells protesters to not ‘act a fool,’ as several are led away by police

Speaking to reporters near Saturday night’s protest, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said he knew there was a lot of pain in Kansas City and across the country.

It’s a pain he, as a black man who grew up on Kansas City’s predominantly black East Side, knows well, he said.

Lucas spoke as hundreds gathered at and around the Country Club Plaza for a second night of protests in Kansas City, joining other cities that have demonstrated against police brutality in the days that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Lucas called on people gathered at the protest to think about change and to not “act a fool,” saying breaking windows of businesses does not move the needle on social or policing matters. He said he wanted people to protest peacefully, noting that Kansas City has not adopted a curfew as other cities have.

The mayor said also Kansas City Police Department officials have recently talked about their own excessive force policy.

“I’m not here for a show,” Lucas said. “I’m here to make a change.”

Among those issues, he said, included figuring out what the “future of incarceration looks like” in Kansas City.

The mayor said he was proud Kansas City did not see the kind of damage other cities, such as Minneapolis, did during protests Friday.

Shortly after, as a man was detained, people chanted: “Let him go!” News helicopters circled overhead.

“No justice, no peace,” the crowd yelled.

By 7 p.m., at least a dozen people had been led away by police.